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Saturday 6th September, Sea Stallion rowed through Berlin's centre 

Saturday morning starts quietly - and early - in Berlin's Vest Hafen for the 60 men and women from Sea Stallion's boat guild, who arrived in the German capital the night before.

'Sea Stallion from Glendalough', the 30m long reconstruction of the original Viking ship, Skuldelev 2, lies at the high quay in 'Becken 1', the enormous harbour in Berlin's western area. The crew are welcomed by the Viking Ship Museum's boatbuilders, who have made Sea Stallion ready for a great day on the river Spree.

And we're off

"Listen up!" calls skipper Carsten Hvid, to quieten the high sound level that naturally arises when 65 people talk with each other. Quiet descends. "We have an exciting day ahead of us. But also a day, where we have to be 100% focused. There is strong current, low bridges and masses of ship traffic ahead, so we have to ready at all times" says the skipper, and continues, "We've loosened Sea Stallion's high stems, so we can remove them when we have to go under the low bridges. So we'll be fully ready before the craziness hits on the rowing tour through the city".

Sea Stallion has to quickly make its way from Vest Hafen out to Ost Hafen, where the tour is due to begin. It has to happen early, before the city awakes, so the day's first stage is a tow behind a small tug boat.

Sea Stallion glides calmly through the quiet waters and the ca. 10km distance to Ost Hafen, where the crew release the tow rope and lay out the oars. At 09:30, the splash of the many oars echos under Treptower Brücke; the tour through the centre of Berlin has begun.

An audience is already in place from the early morning

Out here, there is lots of room on both sides of the Spree. Adults and children cycle along the quay and try to keep up with Sea Stallion. "Where will the ship stop, so we can get a closer look?" they ask the Viking Ship Museum's staff. More and more people appear. Families with children in Viking clothes and fancy helmets cruise along side the ship in open-topped sports cars.

Sea Stallion rows under the impressive Oberbaum Bucke bridge, and now the quayside narrows in to become small paths along the wide river. It's harder to make progress, the riverside is full of people who have come to see Sea Stallion moor at Berlin's new Arena, 02.

The audience is enchanted. "It's so exciting that you've come to Berlin!" and "We're planning on following you all day to Schiffsbauerdamm", they say. Others tell about how they followed Sea Stallion's voyage to Ireland and back again in 2007 - 2008. A lady smiles and says, "We visited the museum in Roskilde when the boys were small. They were so excited to go sailing and visit the workshops!". Behind her stands two tall teenagers, looking a bit embarrassed as they play with the smartphones and upload photos of the longship.

The crew go on board again and the audience gets a big surprise. The skipper gives the command to "Rest on the oars", and from midships comes the call, "Three - two - one" and all of the crew break out in a giant Sea Stallion roar. The crowd enjoy it and respond with applause. And the tour continues.

Stop over in Berlin's historic harbour

The next stop is the beautiful 'Historic Harbour' with its many old naval ships. Bridges and quays are covered with spectators and many thousand Berliners have come to see Sea Stallion. They have come to this precise location to see the ship go through the lock. From Mühlendamm Brücke, there is a good view and it's now so impossible to keep walking that a protest march almost dissolves into nothing, because the participants want to check out the rare sight of a Viking ship in Berlin.

Sea Stallion rows under the bridge and the crowds run over to the other side, across the wide boulevard. Traffic stops. Here, it is so clear that that the ship is approaching the centre of the city: Sea Stallion passes right past Berlin's Cathedral.

Thousands of spectators look on from the packed bridges

Here at Museum Insel, the bridges are close together. All of them are full with spectators, and people with large cameras run along the river side. The last bridge is passed. More and more people arrive. They wait and watch. Then two police boats arrive, to ensure free passage for Sea Stallion, but still the ship can't be seen. We wait. The audience asks, "The ship is coming here, isn't it?". The crowds are pressed closer and closer together. Then the stem appears - now decorated with its golden wind vane in honour of those who have come to meet the ship.

The final bridge is passed, the stems pass safely under and the skipper breaths a sigh of relief. All went well. "Three - two - one" echoes once more from the midship and the day's greatest roar rings out across the high sides of the Spree.

Information on Sea Stallions visit to Berlin

Sea Stallion is in Berlin to generate interest in the opening of the Viking exhibition, 'Die Wikinger', which has been created in collaboration between the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Berlin, the British Museum in London and the National Museum in Copenhagen. 

The Viking Ship Museum is showing an extension of 'Die Wikinger', with the exhibition, 'Ships of the Vikings', which is based on the find of the five Viking ships on Roskilde Fjord and the more than 50 years of work involved in building and sailing reconstructed Viking ships. A reconstruction of a smaller Viking Age boat will also take place as part of the exhibition. Both exhibitions are on display in Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, from 10th September until 4th January.

The exhibition will be opened on the 9th September by Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark and German President, Joachim Gauck, who will also visit Sea Stallion together. The Queen was 'godmother' when Sea Stallion was launched in 2004 and since then, has sailed with the ship several times, most recently in 2012. The Queen and President will be received by Viking Ship Museum Director, Tinna Damgård-Sørensen and Skipper Carsten Hvid.

Sea Stallion will hold 'open ship' at Schiffbauerdamm 19 from the 7th - 14th September, daily from 10:00 - 19:00, except for Tuesday 9th September, where the ship will be closed to the public from 13:00 to facilitate the visit of her Majesty the Queen and the German President, Joachim Gauck.